The Correctional Services Bureau (DSC) announced yesterday that inmates held at the current prison on Rua de São Francisco Xavier (聖方濟各街) will be transferred on Saturday to the city’s new jail on Estrada da Barragem de Ka Ho (九澳堤壩馬路), both of which are located in Coloane.
In response to the Post’s enquiry as to whether the relocation will include its “special detention zone” next to the Academy of the Public Security Forces for inmates requiring special detention, the bureau replied by mail last night that “information on the relocation arrangements for the Coloane Prison is not available due to security considerations”.
According to the bureau’s reply to several media late last year, the new prison at Ka Ho will be able to accommodate a total of 2,700 inmates, i.e., an additional 659 places. According to the annual report by the bureau on Tuesday, at the end of last year, 1,331 convicted prisoners and those on remand were held in the jail, of whom about 1,122 were male and 209 were female.
The construction project of the new prison, divided into four phases, commenced in August 2010, when the government said it expected the project to be completed by the end of 2014. The first two phases of the new prison project, including the construction of external roads, watchtowers, electricity substations and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rooms, as well as the construction of prison cell blocks and the whole complex, were started in August 2010 and March 2016 respectively. At that time, the first phase of the project was scheduled to be completed in 2012, but in the end, due to “problems with the quality of the construction materials, the unstable mountainous terrain and typhoons”, the first two phases of the project could only be completed in December 2019. The third phase, mainly for the prison administration consisting of four buildings – the Administration Building, Inspection Building, Staff Complex, Training Building, and a two-storey underground car park, commenced in April 2019 and was completed in July last year.
Following the completion of the fourth phase of the project, including the construction of security facilities, signalling and network systems and weak current engineering*, in June this year, the bureau announced in a statement yesterday the relocation of inmates to the new prison on Saturday, pointing out that the relocation was slated to be completed on that day.
The statement pointed out that for the sake of smooth relocation and safety, a raft of traffic control measures, including re-routing of buses and temporary closure of some parking spaces, would be implemented in the relevant area, calling upon members of the public to cooperate with the instructions given by police officers when travelling through the area.
The Transport Bureau (DSAT) announced yesterday the temporary traffic arrangements to be in effect on Saturday at various roads including Estrada de Hac Sá (黑沙馬路), Estrada de Choc Van (竹灣馬路) and Estrada da Barragem de Ka Ho, noting that bus stops in Estrada de Hac Sá heading towards Coloane Village will be temporarily suspended, while bus routes 15, 15T, 21A and 26A will be re-routed that day.
With the new prison in operation, according to the statement, the current prison on Rua de São Francisco Xavier will cease operation from Sunday. The statement added that all visits to the prison will also be suspended on the day of relocation.
The statement did not reveal the future use of the old jail.
Meanwhile, also yesterday, the Civil Aviation Authority (AACM) said in a statement that no drones will be allowed in Coloane on Saturday: “The Civil Aviation Authority will implement an unmanned aircraft ban on Coloane Island on October 19, 2024 to ensure that the government activities on the island can be carried out smoothly and safely”.
The notice was published in the Official Gazette yesterday. Violators of the ban face a fine of between 2,000 patacas and 20,000 patacas.
* In electrical engineering, “weak current” refers to low current levels that are used in certain applications, particularly in the context of signalling and control systems. – Source: Poe
This undated file photo taken from the website of the Public Works Bureau (DSOP), which oversaw the construction project, shows the new Coloane prison in Ka Ho.
